National report pinpoints strategies to improve housing quality and performance

A recent report from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) has put forward a multi-pronged strategy to lift the quality of Australian housing. The national approach aims to combat energy inefficiencies in Australia's existing housing stock and the resulting financial burdens experienced by households, while also setting improved standards for new homes into the future.

Authored by researchers from the University of South Australia, Monash University, the University of Adelaide, the University of Sydney and the University College of London, the report's analysis of the Australian Housing Conditions Dataset 2022 found that over 70 percent of existing Australian houses had an energy rating of three stars of lower and about the same statistic of households reported building quality problems.

Lead researcher and associate professor at the University of South Australia Lyrian Daniel noted, "As Australia looks to build 1.2 million new homes over the five years from 2023, the low quality of our housing is currently set to perpetuate."

The report claims that despite energy efficiency standards coming into effect more than two decades ago, 82 percent of new Australian homes are still designed to meet only the minimum requirements - low by international standards. In response, the report's authors call for national enforcement of housing standards via mandatory disclosure of a home's performance at point of sale or lease, minimum standards in the rental sector and stronger performance requirements for new houses.

"While voluntary policies and standards are important for encouraging leadership and innovation, they only improve a small proportion of the housing stock," said Daniel. "Mandatory approaches are needed to lift the environmental standard of most homes. One example is the compulsory disclosure of the home's energy efficiency of a home at point of sale or lease. The ACT government's mandatory disclosure requirement means the territory has the highest level of energy efficiency improvements to existing owner-occupied dwellings."

"Policies that mandate the disclosure of dwelling energy performance could improve housing markets with better consumer information about the performance of houses offered for sale or lease and also enable monitoring of performance standards across the entire housing stock."

The full report can be viewed online.